Wednesday, August 25, 2021
A4
OPINION
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
The River
Democracy
Act deserves
closer look
U
.S. Sen Ron Wyden,
D-Oregon, will host an
online town hall meeting
Tuesday, Aug. 31, and if you get
the chance, we urge you to listen in.
The subject of the town hall
will be the River Democracy Act,
a sweeping piece of new legisla-
tion pushed by Wyden and Sen. Jeff
Merkley, D-Oregon.
The bill is designed to greatly
expand conservation protections to
more than 4,000 miles of rivers and
streams in Oregon, including many
waterways in the eastern part of the
state.
Wyden touts the legislation to
expand recreation access, pro-
tect drinking water, limit wildfire
and safeguard endangered fish and
wildlife.
The spirit of the bill — to protect
more waterways — is a good one.
Our natural resources are a finite
commodity and represent national
treasures that enhance us as a peo-
ple and a nation.
Now, more than 2,000 river miles
in the state are protected under the
National Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act.
As much merit as the proposed
legislation has, it still needs to be
explained carefully to voters. That
it is why it is so important for area
voters to participate in the town
hall.
While protecting rivers and
streams is a good idea, the fact is,
there already are existing protec-
tions — such as the National Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act — on many
waterways. Other federal laws,
such as the Endangered Species
Act, also help add a layer of protec-
tion to streams and rivers.
The danger in such pieces of
legislation is unintended conse-
quences. That’s why Wyden must
explain how, or if, private property
rights will be impacted with the
legislation. He also must explain
how, or if, grazing rights will be
affected by the legislation.
The streams and rivers of Eastern
Oregon are part of our heritage and
must be safeguarded, but too often
the region is seen as a kind of giant,
conservation amusement park for a
minority of people who have little
or no connection to our unique way
of life.
The natural bounty of our region
isn’t something taken for granted
for most of us who live in Eastern
Oregon. We see it every day. No
one wants to see our local natural
resource treasures destroyed.
But before we go and create yet
another layer of federal regulations
to our region, let’s make sure we
are all on the same page and work-
ing for the same results.
So, tune into the town hall and
exercise your right to give feedback
to your elected representative.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
In agreement with ‘crazy
world we live in’ statement
Dave Ebbert characterized our local
situation in his letter to the editor last
week: “What a crazy world we live in.”
There was certainly evidence in that
same issue.
Rebecca Patton wrote that the Amer-
ican Institute for Economic Research
produced a study that determined all
manner of awful things will happen to
children “forced” to mask-up to pro-
tect themselves, their family mem-
bers and schoolmates from coronavirus.
Nevermind that the American Institute
for Economic Research is not medi-
cal research, although they like to throw
around conspiracy theories about AIDS/
HIV and various other medical matters.
I was particularly struck by Ms. Pat-
ton’s quotation of Patrick Henry’s
famous “Give me liberty or give me
death.” When in recent weeks death
is quite literally the result for a few
infected children, as well as teachers,
that seems a rather stark decision for
adults to make on their behalf, particu-
larly when requiring to wear a mask for
awhile is hardly a question of “liberty.”
Also in that same issue, Commis-
sioner Todd Nash, apparently seeing
himself as the hero in a Zane Grey or
Louis L’Amour fiction novel, is quoted
telling the governor that we “frontier
counties” should be exempted from the
recent mask mandate because of how
well we’re doing. Nevermind that the
very same article indicated that several
Eastern Oregon counties, including Wal-
lowa County, have the highest concen-
tration of rates of growth of the virus in
the entire state, along with a few South-
ern Oregon counties and one in Central
Oregon.
According to the Oregon Health
Authority, this county has had 95 cases
of COVID-19 between Aug. 1 and Aug.
20, which is far higher than anything
seen here in the previous 17 months
since the first mandate on March 23,
2020. A few locals have died from coro-
navirus, and our health care resources
are being severely stretched in recent
weeks due to the spike in cases requir-
ing hospitalization.
To quote Dave Ebbert again, “What a
crazy world!”
Jan Blair
Joseph
Appreciative of our local
officials, school board
members
In the last Chieftain, someone com-
plained about members of the school
board on the complicated issue of
masks. The writer “knew” he was right.
A month ago there was a story about a
someone interrupting and whining at
the county commissioners about the
East Moraine Project. She “knew” she
was right.
Empty buckets make the most noise.
We are so fortunate to have the intelli-
gent, thoughtful, experienced men and
women who volunteer in our county for
these important posts. The people on
our school board and the county com-
mission are as fine a bunch of folks as
you will find on this planet. Long meet-
ings. Tough choices. It is easy for those
on the sidelines to make snarky, stupid,
self-centered comments.
May God bless the men and women
in this county who take their valuable
time to serve all of us on all the boards
and commissions. Thank you for serv-
ing and doing your best.
Michael Harvey
Joseph
EDITORIALS: Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Wallowa County Chieftain editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of
the Wallowa County Chieftain.
LETTERS: The Wallowa County Chieftain welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the
right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that
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Contents copyright © 2021. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Evelyn Swart’s letters to the edi-
tor always stimulate reflective thought
on my part including her most recent
(“Politics is a way to discuss country
needs,” Aug. 11, 2021).
The first political system we encoun-
ter is the family. It doesn’t matter if
we are part of a born-into, blended,
adopted or foster family, they are all
political. The Greek word “polis” refers
to city or state and addresses the issue,
“How are we going to live together?”
Our words police, politics, policy and
others derive from this base Greek
word.
Religion as well as politics speaks
to this same question. Is this “fam-
ily” going to be open and accepting or
closed and judgmental, chaotic or rigid,
enmeshed or disengaged? Is there too
much compliance or too much defi-
ance? Are the parents adequate protec-
tors (police)? Will the children be able
to influence rules (policy)? Will the
family accept difference or punish it?
The healthiest families, similar to
the ideals and politics of the United
States, exhibit cooperation, prac-
tice negotiation and accept difference
so long as it isn’t harmful to others.
Family members take responsibility
for each other while respecting each
other. There can be healthy conserva-
tive, healthy liberal and healthy flexi-
ble families. These same types can be
unhealthy.
Accepting variety, while controver-
sial, in the people and families around
us seems to be a good answer to the
question of, “How are we going to live
together?”
Don Scully
Joseph
infringe on the rights of private citizens. Letters must be signed by the author and include the city of
residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will
not be published.
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VOLUME 134
Response to Swart’s
‘Politics’ letter
General manager, Jennifer Cooney, jcooney@wallowa.com
Editor, Ronald Bond, rbond@wallowa.com
Reporter, Bill Bradshaw, bbradshaw@wallowa.com
Advertising Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com
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